Nokia Money

Nokia this morning unveiled a new payment system, known just as Nokia Money, that could bring banking to the poor or those in developing countries that lack the usual choices. Based on Obopay's existing cellphone payment system in North America and Europe, it uses existing phone features to pay for items in stores but also to pay bills, other people, and for the phone service itself. By moving these to the phone, the feature could be particularly useful to those who may live out of reach of a bank or who can't justify the cost of visiting one.

Unlike some of Nokia's services, the feature is deliberately designed to be independent of Nokia's own phones and should also interact with outside services over time. Full details aren't available, but Nokia Money will appear first at Nokia World on September 2nd and should start reaching actual customers in early 2010.

By Electronista Staff